The Chicago racing scene is famous for its legendary boats, the names of which are prolific in the club’s trophy case. These are the many legacy sailing teams that return to Lake Michigan racecourses year after year, faster and more polished than the last. Among them are Scott and Yvonne Rhulander’s Mojo, long-reigning champions of the Beneteau 40.7 fleet at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series, and a team that finds themselves in a similar position after the first day of this 35th edition of the Chicago summertime classic.
As the first major regatta of the season, some of Mojo’s competitors in the seven-boat class may not have been quite ready for the intensity of close-quarters buoy racing, but team Mojo was practiced and ready to win races.
“We did the spring opener and another so we’ve been on the water longer than most other teams this year,” says Yvonne Rhulander. This was partly due to the addition of a new crewmember on the bow team, Ryan Schumm, filling in for the boat’s regular bowman. “That’s part of the reason we practiced early, and today the foredeck team, which included our sun Luca, was amazing.”
Team Mojo won all three of its races, a few by significant margins, and while this is nothing new for the squad, today’s motivation was all for Scott’s brother who passed away yesterday, and a crewmember recovering in the hospital.
“We went out with the sentiment that the whole day was about making them proud; people. We rallied for them.”
Jarrett Altmin’s Beneteau 36.7 Soulshine has been a regular at the Chicago regatta as well, and while Altmin’s team was third overall in 2024, they’ve stepped off to commanding lead, winning three of four races to pad an impressive cushion of 11 points over Silviu and Christina Petrea’s team on Nomad. James Clouser’s Joie De Vie was the day’s other race winner.
Like Mojo, Soulshine enjoyed an ace substitution on the bow with Rod Salazar, and as result, the team’s sail handling around the corners was sharp. “We have a crew that’s been together for more than a decade,” Altmin says, “and today was all about clean corners and low drama. Ours is a quiet boat and while we have good upwind speed our downwind speed was really good and that’s something we struggle with sometimes.”
The difference today, the Chicago-based skipper says, was a matter of smoother communications between the spinnaker with the spinnaker trimming team and great calls from tactician Jeremy Kaughman. “It was a big line for 12 boats o that enabled us to clean starts,” Altmin says, “but everyone got off the line easily too. We didn’t have the best of starts, but they were low stress and we were able to get around the course without any drama.”
In the six-boat ORC division, Shawn O’Neill’s Sydney 38 Eagle, picked up right were it left off at the regatta last year, with three race wins that gave them 4-points on top of John Gottwald’s Grand Soleil 44 Eagles Wings.
Jeremy Alexis’ immaculately prepared Melges 32 Fleetwood, which has been racing events on the East Coast throughout the winter, won all three of its races in the nine-boat PHRF spinnaker fleet. Mark Croll’s C&C 115 Reflection went 3-2-2, but today’s conditions were right in the wheelhouse of Alexis’ lightweight sportboat. With a crack team, a fast boat, and great boathandling, Fleetwood has set a benchmark for the fleet right out of the gate.
The J/88 fleet, racing for its Great Lakes Championship title, enjoyed the same battles among the top three teams that have been racing at other stops of the Regatta Series. In May, in Annapolis, it was Andy Graff’s Exile, winning over Lindsay Duda’s Sin Duda, but after today’s three races, Sin Duda has the upper hand by two points. Duda’s team won two of three races with Graff winning the third.
Seven J/109s are also sailing for the class’s Great Lakes Championship, and here again Michael Hendrie’s Bull, winner in 2024, is atop the standing, but only just. With a seventh in the first race of the day, Bull rallied to win the next two and is tied with Evan Jahn and Alex Millet’s Tumbler.
The Tartan 10 fleet, with 17 boats, has Craig Roehl’s team on Meat off to a stellar start with 8 points after four races. Darren and Kristina Beck’s Kaze, which won the opening race, is 12 points in arrears.
Cate Muller-Terhune’s team on Casting Couch is stepped off with an incredible first day, winning three of four races and leads Margaret McKillen’s Megatron by 12 points, and in the J/105s, Clark Pellet’s Sealark, with David Brown filling in as helmsman for the day, almost had a clean sweep of four races, with Rich Stearns’ Team Five winning the last race of the day to pulling to 7 points shy of the lead.
The regatta’s distance race fleets join the racing for the weekend, along with the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 sailors for the District 20 championship, as well as the regatta’s Youth Invitational Keelboat sailors in Sonars and Dragon Force 65 RC racers providing club-side entertainment for the post-racing party at host Chicago Yacht Club.
